Birds of a Feather-The Flash AU
by Bumblebee'sGuardian
Summary: Wings!AU: A past tragedy and a particle accelerator bring a new set of trials for Barry Allen and his friends, both new and old, as he tries to adjust to his new powers, his new wings and a brand new world. As other feathered foes and friends with powers begin popping up, Barry must tackle his future head on or face his own destruction at the hands of an old enemy. Mild Westhallen.
_**A/N: So...I know there's a billion other stories (i.e.**_ **Sick Day** ** _,_** **Fear Thy Father** ** _, etc.)_** _ **I need to write for but this story would not stop until part of it had been written. This was written for my Tumblr friend**_ **je-ne-ai-pas-peur** _ **who sparked the plot bunny in my brain. Either way, this is a WIP, but I have a good feeling about this. Please let me know what you think. Reviews are seriously appreciated.**_

 _ **-BG**_

* * *

"Where's Allen?"

Barry winced at the Captain's yell as he approached the crime scene, not needing the reminder of how late he was. He shouldered past a couple of officers who glared at him, ruffling their wings at him in a condescending manner. He thought they'd have stopped after working at the CCPD for the past three years. They knew him. They knew he could do his job despite his condition. But that didn't seem to change the views of society.

There were many reasons that Barry was an outcast from society. The main reason and the reason that made him stick out from society was his disability, one that was all too obvious. Barry was wingless. Approximately ninety nine point nine percent of the Earth's population were born with wings. So few were born without that it was a clear marker for being cast aside by society.

Barry however had been born with wings, wings that he'd only gotten to have for the first eleven years of his life. Before the man in the yellow suit came along and tore apart his world.

"Barry! Get over here!" Barry's mind instantly jumped back to the present as Joe called out to him, racing over to his foster father.

"Allen, where have you been?" asked the Captain, his wings tense and his feathers bristled.

"He was getting something for me," said Joe before Barry could sputter out a reply. He turned to Barry with a look. "Bear…"

Barry thought quickly, his hand finding a granola bar in his pocket and handing it to Joe quickly. "Here it is!"

The Captain gave him a look of disbelief, but just rolled his eyes and walked away, his wings still stiff. Joe merely motioned with his head and wings for Barry to get to work, Joe's partner, Detective Chyre, also rolling his eyes at the young man.

Barry grimaced and set to work analyzing the crime scene. Not many people used cars for robberies, but still, this time they at least might have some evidence this time to work with to track down the Mardon brothers. For just a set of tire tracks, there was more evidence here that even Joe could imagine.

Barry smiled. "Getaway car is a Mustang Shelby GT-500. Shelby's have a rear super-wide tire specific to that model."

Joe grinned, writing down the information. Barry felt a flicker of pride at this and turned back to his work, frowning as he looked closer at the dirt in the tread.

"Hmm, there's something else." Barry stood, grabbing a pen from Chyre's shirt pocket much to the detective's bewilderment. "Thanks." He bent down again, picking up a sample with the pen and examining it more closely as he put it in an evidence bag, grimacing at the stench. "Fecal excrement. Animal, I'd guess."

Chyre looked at him in disbelief. "My dad gave me that pen. Before he died."

Barry flinched, feeling a massive wave of guilty and shame. "Sorry…" There were some days he just couldn't win.

* * *

Barry was midway through his lunch and waiting for his tests to be done when Iris walked in, causing his heart to flutter. She was all dressed up and her wings had clearly just been preened. Iris was lucky and not just that she had wings. While her father had passed along his Golden Eagle wings to Wally, Iris had inherited her mother's iridescent blue Common Kingfisher wings. In other words, she looked stunning.

"Ok! I am ready to see this atom smasher smashing," said Iris as triumphantly as she could. Barry knew Iris really wasn't that interested in seeing the particle accelerator turn on. No, she was going because Barry wanted to which meant she wouldn't be too crestfallen when he gave her the bad news.

"There was a shooting today," said Barry half-heartedly, "Your dad needs me to process some evidence. Which means I don't know if we're gonna be able to make it to STAR Labs."

"Seeing this thing turn on is like your dream," said Iris, following Barry further into the lab as he continued his work, "Your sad little nerdy dream." Iris stole a fry from his lunch, popping it into her mouth quickly. "Plus, I canceled a date for this."

Barry snatched away the container of fries, giving his foster sister an indignant look. "Hands off my fries." He shook his head, amused and yet still defensive over his fries. "Unbelievable."

Iris' wings twitched in amusement, but otherwise, she hardly reacted. "I'm stress-eating over my dissertation. We started selling cronuts at Jitters, I ate two today. If I don't graduate soon, I'm gonna be more muffin-top than woman."

Barry snorted at the remark. "You look amazing." Iris rolled her eyes at this statement and her wings fluffed accordingly. Barry turned away, trying to hide the sudden blush that had crept over his cheeks. It was true, but Iris had no idea the feelings that he held behind those words.

"What is so important about this particle accelerator anyway?" Asked Iris as she followed

Barry couldn't help but smile. Despite her not liking science as much as he did, she was always curious. It would make her a great reporter, not to mention a great cop if Joe hadn't already shut down that dream for her. "Harrison Wells' work in quantum theory is light-years ahead of anything they're doing at CERN.

"You're doing that thing where you're not speaking English," commented Iris dryly.

"Ok." Barry picked up a marker and marched over to the dry erase board, drawing a small black dot. "Just imagine that that dot, is everything the human race has ever learned until this moment."

"Does that include twerking?" Iris said sarcastically.

Barry merely drew a large circle around the dot. "That is everything we could learn from the particle accelerator," he said excitedly, "It's a whole new way of looking at physics. It will literally change the way that we think about everything."

Iris sighed and placed both of her hands on his shoulders, giving him an affectionate and yet highly amused look. "You gotta get yourself a girlfriend."

Before Barry could reply, Joe entered the lab, saving Barry from what would have certainly been a steady strain of embarrassing and possibly revealing babble escaping his mouth. "Hey, leave him alone, he's working."

Iris smiled and turned to her dad, her wings fluffing and rising with her upturned grin. "Hi, Dad." A beeping noise made her turn to Barry's computer. "Your testing is done."

Barry hurried over to the computer, carefully reading through the data it was giving him. This was good news.

"I think the Mardon brothers are hiding on a farm," said Barry as he finished checking the results, "The fecal matter I found on the street, it was cow manure, which contains traces of oxytetracycline." Both Joe and Iris gave him blank looks, their wings shifting ever so slightly in confusion. "It's an antibiotic. There are only four farms in the area that still use it in their feed." Barry turned snatched up the list he printed out and handed it to Joe with a grin. "I bet you find a very sweet Shelby parked at one of them."

Joe gave Barry the slightest smirk, his wings however rising with a hint of pride. Barry felt a swell of joy inside, his smile widening.

Iris put her arm around her father's shoulders, turning to him with her most sincere smile. "Dad, seeing as how Barry solved your poop problem, how about letting him go to STAR Labs?"

Joe hesitated, looking at the both before an affectionate grin spread across his face. "Fine, go."

"Yes!" Barry leaped up from his computer chair as Iris gave her father a kiss, her wings flaring wide with joy as she giggled. "Thank you, Joe." Barry snatched up his jacket and he and Iris raced out of the lab, grinning like idiots. Tonight was going to be great after all.

* * *

Eddie watched as the CSI, Barry Allen, and a woman who could only be Detective West's daughter, Iris, practically skipped out of the building, amusing the new detective to no end. He knew the CSI was Detective West's foster son, something which seemed strange to Eddie considering the fact that the detective already had a son and a daughter of his own. However, the young man seemed happier for it and Eddie couldn't argue with the situation. He shook his head, wings floofing happily as he headed back inside the precinct. He had some paperwork to finish before his date tonight. He had no idea that he would be seeing those two later tonight much less what fate had in store for the three of them.

* * *

"Hey, lovebirds! Wait for me!"

Barry and Iris were about to walk in to STAR Labs when the familiar voice called out from behind them and the two turned, finding Wally West coming to a landing right behind them. The young man looked out of breath, clearly having raced here as fast as his wings could carry him.

"Wally!" exclaimed Iris, quickly yanking her brother into a wing hug, "I thought you had work tonight!"

"Drax let me off early," said Wally with a grin, "I told him that you both were going to see the particle accelerator turn on and he basically dragged my ass out the door, telling me to go have fun."

Barry chuckled. "Well, I'm glad your boss likes you more than Singh likes me. If it weren't for Joe, I'm sure Singh would have chained me to the lab for the night rather than let me come."

Iris gave Barry a look of disbelief. "Really, Bear? That's a little dramatic, don't you think?"

"You gotta remember though, Iris, he was part of the drama club as well as the chemistry and physics club," said Wally teasingly.

"Says the president of both the robotics and engineering club," replied Barry, grinning at his foster brother. Things between him and Wally had been tense the first few years Barry had lived with them. For Wally, it wasn't just that it meant sharing his room, but that Barry got so much attention for so many years after the tragedy that left him both wingless and parentless. Sadly, the breaking point for Wally's hostility was the day they lost Mrs. West to cancer. That day, Wally ran to Barry with tears in his eyes and he clung to Barry as if he was the only person who understood how much pain he was in. Barry hadn't even hesitated to hug the boy back and let him know he was there for him. They never told Joe or Iris about the incident, but the two had become fast friends from that point forward.

"Well I'm not one to brag," replied Wally, returning Barry's grin.

"Oh no. Not at all," said Iris sarcastically, cuffing her brother gently over the head with her wing much to both Barry and Wally's amusement, "Now let's get inside before we miss the ceremony."

"Race you inside!" said Wally, darting through the massive crowd and leaving Barry and Iris to chase after him, the two eventually catching up as the crowd grew too thick for Wally to go any further. Much to Barry's joy, they ended up in the perfect spot to see the stage.

"So what did you end up finding in Starling City?" asked Wally excitedly as they waited for the ceremony to start.

"Did you find proof of the impossible?" Iris added.

"Well, no. Not really. Made a few friends. Found out how crazy the city really is." Barry hesitated to add his last thought, but decided he could trust Iris and Wally to know. "I met the Arrow."

Iris and Wally looked at him slack jawed. "You met the Arrow?!" said Iris, "THE Arrow?"

Barry nodded, Iris' interest prompting him to continue with his reveal. "Yep. Turns out it was a case he was working so I got to help him out. Oh and I got to meet Oliver Queen too since it was his facility that was broken into. Weird dude, but cool."

Iris jabbed a finger in Barry's chest. "You told me you were going to stay out of trouble."

Barry shrugged. "I did. The Arrow, well, his team anyway, came to me." That was probably more than he should have told Iris and Wally, but Hell, he trusted them with his life.

Iris opened her mouth to continue ranting at him only for the sound of a mic turning on to stop her. "You're so telling us the whole story later," she said.

Barry chuckled, but nodded, his attention quickly pulled away as Dr. Harrison Wells took the stage. He was so enraptured that he almost missed Iris call out in alarm. Almost.

"Ow! Hey, my laptop! It's got my dissertation." Barry immediately turned around with Iris and Wally to spot a young man racing off with Iris' laptop bag in his hands.

"I'm on it!" Wally took off after the thief, Barry following several feet behind as they shoved their way through the crowd. Wally and the thief raced out the outside doors ahead of Barry, leaving him struggling to catch up. "Hey! Dude, what the Hell?!"

Barry burst through the doors just in time to see Wally pinned to a pole and struggling to get free of a wing tether, one of the latest and greatest self-defense weapons. A wing tether launched a metal cable which attached to a person's wings and immediately magnetized the person to the nearest metal surface. The thief was almost out of sight, but fired the tether again at Barry who watched it merely drop to the ground, the tether having no effect on Barry with his wingless status. For once, it was a fact that he was oddly grateful. "Wally?"

"I'm fine!" yelled the struggling kid, "Go get that dude before he gets away!"

Barry didn't need a second prompting. He raced in the direction the thief had gone, losing sight of the man as he rounded a corner. Barry turned the same corner only for something to hit him in the face and sending him crashing to the ground. Slightly dazed, Barry struggled to his feet, seeing the panicked thief backing away from him toward the fence behind him.

"All right, kid, you don't have to do this, all right? Just give me back my friend's bag, and we'll call it even," said Barry, holding his hands out for the bag, "Ok?"

The thief leaned forward as if to hand Barry the bag only to suddenly swing it at Barry again, hitting Barry in the stomach and leaving him winded. As Barry staggered backwards, the thief took off again, aiming obviously to get enough momentum to glide over the fence. Iris finally caught up to Barry with Wally a few steps behind.

"Barry!" Iris put her arm around Barry protectively as he struggled to catch his breath. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," said Barry dejectedly. Some hero he was…

* * *

Eddie was just walking back to his car from his failed date when he heard the call over the radio about a mugging at STAR Labs and that the mugger was headed to the back of the building. Realizing that he was only a block away, Eddie took off running, getting enough momentum to take off and fly over the nearest rooftop. He quickly spotted the thief who had just taken flight over the back fence. Eddie immediately dived down, grabbing the thief by the wing and snatching the bag away as he tossed the man to the ground. Eddie landed and set down the bag, drawing his weapons as the thief struggled to his feet and started to pull out a wing tether. "Freeze! Police! Or do you want to find out the hard way you're not faster than a bullet?"

The thief froze, letting the tether drop to the ground and raising his hands slowly. He looked too scared to even try to fly off again.

"Nice takedown, Detective."

Eddie glanced past the thief, surprised to see Barry Allen standing there, his hand clutched to his nose which was streaming blood. Iris West and another young man who bore a striking resemblance to Joe West (clearly this had to be Joe's son, Wally) stood behind the young CSI, looking just as out of breath as Barry, but not as beat up. "Thanks. I'm guessing you called it in."

Barry shook his head with a wince. "Nah. Iris did. Wally and I were chasing after this guy after he took her laptop."

"He's got a wicked aim with that tether," commented Wally, his wings twitching just enough for Eddie to see a gash running across both, clearly the result of having been tethered.

"Right." Eddie glanced between the trio and the thief. "Do you three mind keeping an eye on him while I call this in?"

"No problem" said Iris with a nod. She glanced briefly at her brother who nodded in return before she took a running leap, gliding almost effortlessly over the fence. Wally, in the meantime, grabbed Barry carefully under his arms, taking off with one strong flap of his wings and flying the two of them over the fence.

It was only then that Eddie finally put together why a few of the officers at the precinct constantly made fun of Barry in the bullpen whenever Detective West wasn't there. The kid had no wings.

"Detective, I suggest you make that call," said Iris rather abruptly, her wings raised and her feathers ruffled. Eddie instantly felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment as he realized that he had been caught staring at Barry and quickly looked away.

"Right. My apologies." Eddie pulled out his phone and quickly called up the precinct, trying not to think about how embarrassed he felt and how rude he had just been. He'd have to apologize to Barry and Iris personally later once everything settled down.

* * *

"So who is that guy?" said Iris, her feathers still ruffled as she watched the blonde detective talking with a few patrol officers, obviously regaling them with the story of his takedown, "What's he so proud of? So he caught a mugger."

"He's a transfer from Keystone. Just started here a few weeks ago. Eddie Thawne," replied Barry, removing the Kleenex from his nose. Thankfully, it had finally stopped bleeding and the medics had cleared both him and Wally after patching up the latter's wings.

Iris raised an eyebrow, glancing over the detective with a new understanding as she watched him walk across the bullpen. "Oh, that's Detective Pretty Boy." Barry gave Iris a confused look. "That's what my dad calls him. Says he actually keeps score when it comes to arrests." She hesitated, noting that while she didn't like the man, the man was extremely good looking and his goldfinch wings matched his golden retriever blonde hair perfectly. "He is pretty though..."

Not even a millisecond after the words escaped Iris' mouth, the detective suddenly turned in their direction, quickly coming to stand over by them. "How's the nose?"

"Feeling better than my stomach," said Barry. He clearly hadn't been nearly as offended as Iris was after she had caught the detective staring at his winglessness. "Iris' laptop felt like it was made of titanium."

The detective chuckled. "I'll bet. But I'm glad you're feeling better." He hesitated only for a moment before holding out his hand. "We've never been properly introduced. Eddie Thawne."

Barry nodded and gave the man a small smile, shaking his hand. "I know. Barry Allen."

The detective chuckled again softly. "I know." Iris suddenly realized how embarrassed and shy the man was acting as Detective Thawne rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Barry's smile widened, clearly just as amused as the detective was by their awkward introduction. Well, that was a change. Still, she felt a sudden prickle of jealously and protectiveness for her foster brother and best friend, spurring her to stand.

"Iris West," Iris said quickly, holding her hand out to shake which the detective did firmly, but politely.

"It's good to meet you both. Well, I mean I've seen you both around, but it's good to actually get to meet you two." Detective Thawne hesitated again, his smile dropping as he suddenly looked downwards, obviously embarrassed. "Look, I wanted to apologize for earlier. For…well, for being completely rude and inconsiderate. I didn't mean to stare."

Much to Iris' surprise, Barry just shrugged it off. "It's ok. I've kind of gotten used to it and staring is hardly the worst of what I get. Thank you for apologizing though."

A flicker of concern crossed Detective Thawne's face and Iris realized that the man was actually troubled by this. About Barry. "Oh. Well, still. I'm sorry. They shouldn't be doing that."

Barry just shrugged again. "Like I said, I'm used to it. And it was really good of you to apologize." He stood, staggering slightly as he suddenly seemed off balance. Iris immediately reached to steady him only for Detective Thawne to have beaten her to the punch, taking Barry gently by the shoulders and helping him regain his balance.

"Easy there," said Detective Thawne, "I think you might want to sit down for a little while still. You took quite a beating."

"I'm fine," protested Barry, "Really."

"We should get you home," said Iris, standing and taking Barry's arm.

"I can't," said Barry with a sigh, "I still need to finish my paperwork or the Captain will have my head."

"Considering you were injured in the line of duty, I think he won't mind," said Detective Thawne with a soft smile, "If anything, I'll tell him I sent you home before you could finish." Iris felt some part of her melt at the sight of his smile. Honestly, it reminded her of a puppy. A really, really annoying but adorable golden retriever puppy with wings. God she needed to stop thinking about the detective that way.

"How about if I run up and grab the paperwork to finish at home?" suggested Barry, "Then neither of us has to worry about the Captain."

Detective Thawne paused, obviously thinking for a moment. "…ok. But I'll go get your paperwork for you."

Iris snorted. "If you can find it." Detective Thawne and Barry turned to him, the former looking confused and the latter looking mildly insulted. "Have you seen his desk? It's like a nuke went off."

Detective Thawne let out an amused snort himself. "Well, what is it that they say? That people of higher intelligence are messier?"

Barry's eyebrows shot up in surprise and Iris smirked. In a way, it was a backwards compliment and Iris couldn't help but appreciate it. "How…uh, thanks I guess," said Barry, blushing slightly.

Eddie just shrugged him off. "I'll help you up to the lab then, just to make sure you're ok."

"I'm going to go pull the car around then," said Iris. She patted Barry's shoulder and turned to leave, stopping for a moment and meeting Detective Thawne's gaze. "Thank you, Detective."

Iris didn't need to elaborate, Detective Thawne merely nodding and giving her a small smile. "Call me Eddie. And it's my pleasure."

Iris felt her cheeks warm, but she turned away quickly, heading toward the stairs. She really needed to talk a long flight to clear her head, but running the stairs would have to do for now with the storm raging outside. What the Hell was wrong with her?

* * *

Eobard tried not to glance anxiously at his watch as his team raced about preparing the particle accelerator. He'd seen Barry Allen and the West Siblings leaving STAR Labs after the thief he'd hired took off with Iris' laptop. Hopefully by now Barry had returned to the precinct and was in his lab, finally in position for the Speed Force to bestow its gift upon the future Flash. He wished he had even a moment to go check the footage of the CCPD lab to make sure, but it was time and the longer he waited, the more chance there was that his plan wouldn't work at all.

Eobard let out a sigh. Time to see if the past fifteen years were worth it after all…

* * *

"You really didn't have to do this," said Barry as Eddie followed him into the lab.

"It's not a problem," said Eddie, "I'm technically off shift anyway and I'm not exactly looking forward to driving home in the rain. I've got time to kill."

Barry nodded, popping on the TV to the broadcast of the particle accelerator. He sighed. Of course he'd missed it.

"You really wanted to see that turn on, didn't you?" Barry turned to Eddie as the detective spoke. "The particle accelerator."

"Yeah… I did," said Barry quietly as he started to pack up his bag.

"I'm sorry," said Eddie.

Barry snorted. "It wasn't your fault, Eddie. Besides, it's not like I could have actually seen it turn on. I would have had to be working at STAR Labs for that to happen."

Eddie nodded in understanding. "Still. It's too bad. They say it's going to change the world." He paused. "I meant to ask earlier, but where did Detective West's son go?"

"Wally had to get home early. He filed his statement and took off for home," said Barry, "He has school tomorrow and needed to rest up for some big physics class test. Not that he won't pass it."

"Smart kid?" asked Eddie.

"Very." Barry smiled fondly. "He's amazing with mechanical engineering. One of these days, he's going to make something that will change the world. I just can't wait to see what it is."

The duo lapsing into silence once again as Barry finished gathering his things. Every so often, Barry felt Eddie's gaze on his back where his wings should have been, the detective obviously still curious, but refraining from prying. Barry was oddly relieved that the man wasn't asking. Most people did and he didn't really want to tell them what happened. This time, he suddenly didn't seem to mind. "You're wondering what happened to my wings."

Eddie let out a small noise of surprise, practically a chirp, and Barry managed a small smile. To be honest, it was really adorable. "Uh, how…? Um, yeah. But if you don't want to talk about it, I don't want to put you in a spot…"

Barry's smile managed to grow a little wider and he felt his mood brighten if ever so slightly. Despite what everyone seemed to think about Eddie, the detective was actually a nice guy and Barry felt completely comfortable talking to him about…well, about anything it appeared. He didn't just tell anyone his story. But he wanted to tell Eddie.

"On March 18th, 2000, my mother was murdered," said Barry, Eddie looking shocked, "It was late. I woke up because of a noise downstairs. When I ran down, I found my mom in the living room. There was…this lightning storm all around her. And then I saw there was a man in it. A man dressed in yellow. The moment he saw me…he came at me and suddenly…suddenly my back was felt like it was on fire. I heard my mom scream and my dad scream from somewhere behind me and then…and then I was waking up in the hospital."

Barry paused for a moment and Eddie didn't say a word, looking both worried and scared. "I guess I blacked out from the pain. The nurses said a man in a red suit dropped me off, screaming for someone to call the police and have them go to my house before he just disappeared into the night. By the time the police got there though, my mom was dead, stabbed through the heart and my dad was missing, a bunch of bloody feathers all they found at the scene.

"And…and your wings…?" asked Eddie hesitantly.

Barry looked down, pain racing along his shoulder blades at the thought. "Turns out that the fire I'd felt on my back was my wings being ripped off. The police never found them so they couldn't even try to stitch them back on. I've just had to deal with their absence since and believe me, it took years of physical therapy for me to get to where I am today."

Eddie remained silent, looking shaken. "…I'm sorry. Thank you for telling me. For trusting me."

Barry nodded, about to say something more when the sound of the TV broke through his train of thought, forcing him to turn around. His eyes almost instantly widened in fear.

"Wait, we are now being told to evacuate the facility," said the reported over the sound of alarms blaring. Barry felt Eddie approach behind him, his attention however locked on the television screen. What the Hell was happening? "The storm may have caused a malfunction to the primary cooling system. Officials are now trying to shut down the particle accelerator, but so far have been unable to regain control of the sys-"

The television feed abruptly cut out, causing both Barry and Eddie to look up in surprise. Not even a moment later there was a loud roar followed by an even louder boom. The two looked out the window, a bright light lighting up the sky. Barry instantly realized where it was coming from. "The particle accelerator…"

The roar crescendoed across the city as a wave of energy radiated from STAR Labs, the power cutting out as the wave passed through everything in its path, including the precinct. Barry however barely flinched, his eyes rooted on the horrible light.

"I need to get downstairs!" said Eddie, his words jolting Barry out of his trance as the detective turned toward the door, "They're going to need all hands on deck for this one!"

"Go. I'll be safe here as soon as I seal up the skylight!" Barry grabbed the window chain as he waved Eddie off.

Eddie started for the door only to freeze in the doorway, turning back around with wide, fearful eyes. Barry froze as well, his heart racing as the air around them changed abruptly, every molecule suddenly electrified. There was only one thing it reminded him of… The night the man in yellow came. As if on cue, the chemicals around Barry suddenly began to float, not unlike the water in Barry's fish tank on that night so long ago. He looked up at the skylight. It couldn't be…

"Barry! Get out of there!"

Barry had a split second to register Eddie's voice calling out to him before a bolt of lightning blasted through the window and crashed straight into Barry. Then everything went black.

* * *

Eddie stood frozen in horror for a moment as he watched the lightning strike Barry in the chest, throwing the limp form of the CSI across the room and into a rack of chemicals. The second the rack crashed to the floor with Barry sprawled over it, Eddie was in action, racing to his new friend's side. Despite the energy coursing across Barry's skin, Eddie reached out to check his pulse, receiving a sharp jolt in the process that somehow managed to make it all the way through Eddie's fingers to his wings. Nevertheless, the detective pushed himself to move forward, checking again and finding no pulse. Panicking, Eddie dragged Barry off the rack and began performing CPR, desperately praying for a miracle as he yelled out for help, not even sure if anyone could hear him.

Suddenly Barry was breathing if only scarcely so. Eddie checked Barry's pulse again, finding it somehow both rapid and yet terribly faint. Seeing that no help was coming, he immediately scooped up the young man bridal style and raced out the door toward the bullpen, rushing down the stairs and stunning everyone with his sudden arrival.

"Somebody help me!" The moment the panicked words escaped Eddie's mouth the office came alive, the Captain and a few others hurrying over to help as Eddie lay Barry down on the floor, all of them kneeling next to the unconscious CSI.

"What happened?" asked Singh, the Captain clearly both startled and scared by this development.

"We were in the lab. A bolt of lightning came through the skylight and struck him," Eddie blurted out, "I got his heart started again, but-"

"EMS are swarmed with emergency calls right now. An ambulance won't make it here in time." Singh grabbed Barry up off the floor, spreading his wings for takeoff. For Saker Falcon wings, they were huge. "I'm taking him to the hospital."

"But sir!" exclaimed one of the officers, "The storm!"

"If we wait for the storm to pass, Allen won't make it!" snapped the Captain, tightening his grip on Barry. He shot a grateful glance toward Eddie and was off with a powerful trust of his wings, speeding off into the storm. Eddie stared after him praying that the Captain made it in time. He turned at the sound of running footsteps from the stairs, freezing at the sight of Iris gasping for breath at the top of the stairs; her wings draped low from exhaustion. Oh God… No…

Iris looked at Eddie, fear growing in her eyes. "Where's Barry?"

Eddie took a deep, ragged breath, his wings trembling with emotion as he stood and approached her. "Barry… Barry was hurt… The Captain just took him to the hospital."

Iris' eyes widened. "What happened?"

Eddie swallowed. As much as his logical brain told him to just tell her and get back to helping the other officers bring everything back to order, his heart told him that he had better things to do. Like get Iris to her foster brother and make sure that Barry and the Captain had made it to the hospital safely. "I'll explain on the way to the hospital." He grabbed her hand and she raced down the stairs with him, heading down to the parking garage. Once they got to his squad car, he turned on the sirens, flooring it as he made a beeline for the hospital. As he drove, Eddie quickly explained to Iris what had happened. Even long after he'd finished his story, Iris just sat there in the passenger seat, frozen in fear with tears in her eyes. Eddie forced himself to focus on the road, only letting his thoughts drift once in a silent plea to God, praying that Barry would still be alive when they got there. He just had to be.


End file.
